Now that classic content is finally making its way to Codemasters' yearly Formula 1 titles with F1 2013, I decided to catch up with the team to learn what's changing in this year's game and what challenges they had to overcome to bring these historical cars and locations to players today. Just about every F1 fan has asked for a chance to experience these vehicles, including relative newcomers like myself. Creative Director Stephen Hood was gracious enough to answer a few questions on what lies in store for this year's title and the scope of these historical additions.

GT: From 2012 to 2013, what kinds of changes in the regulations require updates in the game?

Stephen Hood: The major change has been in the tyre compounds and their respective wear rates. As you will have seen the tyres have been a huge area for debate this year. While you won’t see the tyres in game explode, such as they did at Silverstone, we will look to recreate the wear of the various compounds meaning that players, when doing longer race distances, will have to manage how they use their tyres and this will dramatically affect their race strategy.

We have also had to amend the use of DRS (Drag Reduction System) in the game to reflect the change in rules. Now you can only use DRS within the allotted zones in all sessions whereas last year you could use DRS at any stage during Practice and Qualifying.

GT: What was the process you had to go through to be able to include this classic content in F1 2013?

SH: We have wanted to include classic content ever since we signed the license to make the official game back in 2008. It is comfortably our most requested feature, both by the press and fans of the game.

It has been a very complicated process and it has taken a long time to secure the relevant licenses. Many of the teams have changed ownership several times in the intervening years, some no longer exist. There are issues with sponsorship and liveries as we cannot show alcohol or cigarette sponsors for example.

There have been a lot of discussions with teams, owners, drivers and F1 personnel over a number of years. Our licensing team has done an amazing job to secure the content that they have for F1 2013 but we see this as very much the start point for us and classic content.

GT: Are all the new modes from last year returning or have some been chopped in favor of F1 Classics?

SH: We haven’t lost anything, although Champions Mode has changed a little bit (more on that in the future). We have actually brought Grand Prix Mode back as well. This allows players to create their own F1 season by stringing a number of races together. They can also play through an entire season as one of the licensed drivers which is something that people really missed in our game last year.

GT: Aside from KERS and DRS. what are the key differences in handling these classic cars?

SH: The classic cars feel completely different to the modern day F1 cars. They’re far less aerodynamically advanced so they are less stable on the track and you need to be more careful, especially through the faster corners. Some of the 80s cars for example are turbo charged so initially when you accelerate you get turbo lag and then all of a sudden it kicks in and it’s like being strapped to a rocket. It’s a completely different experience and an awful lot of fun.

GT:Out of all the eras why did you focus on the 80s? Why is the 90s content only for limited edition?

SH: As I said earlier, this is very much a start point for us as far as classic content is concerned. We decided fairly early on that we should focus on eras rather than specific years as this enabled us to have a number of iconic cars. Most of the people who play our games will have fond memories of F1 in the 80s and 90s whether it was through watching it on TV or playing Scalextric as children. Therefore it made sense for us to start there as there are some great cars and phenomenal drivers for us to work with.

Every copy of F1 2013 will ship with all the 2013 teams, drivers, cars and circuits but will also have our 80s content on disc. We have five classic cars from Williams, Ferrari and Lotus as well as drivers such as Nigel Mansell, Emerson Fittipaldi & Mario Andretti. The 80s content will also include classic Brands Hatch and Jerez.

For the first time we are able to offer a Limited Edition version of the game called F1 2013 Classic Edition. This includes all the 2013 and 1980s content, plus extra cars, drivers and circuits from the 1990s. In the 90s pack you get six cars from Ferrari and Williams and drivers such as Alain Prost & Jacques Villeneuve, Eddie Irvine and David Coulthard. The Track Pack lets you race on Imola and Estoril. It’s the ‘must own’ version for the fans.

Both the 1990s Classic Pack and the Classic Track Pack will also be available as DLC shortly after release so that people who only bought the standard copy of the game can bolt on the content if they would like it.

GT: Is the content essentially a "dream team" from that period? Will players be able to recreate any specific races?

SH: By recreating an era rather than an individual year we were able to cherry pick cars that we wanted to include. Obviously every F1 fan will have their own opinions about which cars and drivers should be in the game but we also had to work within licensing boundaries as many of the teams from the 80s are no longer in existence and sadly some of the drivers are no longer with us.

Teams have been chosen on their historic significance, with specific cars not simply chosen on performance. Each team will race with at least one of the original drivers piloting their cars (where possible), with a former ‘legendary’ F1 guest driver piloting the second car. Former ‘team legend’ guest drivers have been allocated based on a strong and obvious association with that particular team, and as such F1 Classics reunites ten legendary F1 World Champions from across the years.

Historic circuits have been selected for layout variety, popularity and era association and are ideally matched to the cars on offer; Brands Hatch, Jerez, Imola and Estoril.

It's great to get a better understanding of what's in store for this year's F1 game, and it sounds like there's only room to grow in the years to come. Check out our preview below to see the game in action, and keep an eye on GT for more info on F1 2013 before it launches on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 in early October.